Sixty percent of businesses that use IoT agree that it has either completely disrupted their industry or will do so in the next five years.

More than a third (34 per cent) of businesses now use IoT – 70 per cent of these adopters have moved beyond pilot stage and 95 per cent of adopters are seeing the benefits of investment in this technology as it moves into the mainstream – according to Vodafone Internet of Things (IoT) Barometer reports.

Vodafone, the global leader in IoT with 80.9 million connections, surveyed 1,758 businesses worldwide to come to this conclusion in its latest IoT Barometer findings.

While use cases for IoT are varied, ranging from medical exoskeletons to connected tires, the research has found that IoT impacts businesses regardless of size and sector.

Sixty per cent of businesses that use IoT agree that it has either completely disrupted their industry or will do so in the next five years. 84 per cent of adopters report growing confidence in IoT, with 83 per cent enlarging the scale of deployments to take advantage of full benefits.

The Americas progressing faster than other markets

The report also grades businesses in IoT usage by assessing strategy, integration and implementation of IoT deployments. Globally the report found that 53 per cent of adopters fall into the top two levels out of five.

Regionally, the Americas is the most advanced, with 67 per cent of adopters falling into the top two levels, compared to 51 per cent in APAC and 46 per cent in Europe.

This suggests that businesses in the Americas are progressing faster than those in other markets, moving from individual projects to coordinated, strategic programs.

The most advanced companies also saw the greatest return on investment in IoT. 87 per cent of those in the top level reported significant returns or benefits from IoT, compared to just 17 per cent in the “beginner’s” level.

Stefano Gastaut, CEO IoT, Vodafone Business, commented, “IoT is central to business success in an increasingly digitized world, with 72 per cent of adopters saying digital transformation is impossible without it. The good news is that IoT platforms make the technology easier to deploy for businesses of all sizes and NB-IoT and 5G will improve services and potential.”

New technology to power the performance of IoT in the future

According to Vodafone IoT Barometer reports, over half (52 per cent) of adopters plan to use 5G, which promises to support higher volumes of data, increase reliability and offer near-zero latency.

The company noted that combined with mobile edge computing, which will process application traffic closer to the network edge, users can expect better performance, less risk and faster data speeds in future.